Tea Won't Fix It
by Hopelssrmntc
Summary: You feel it. Deep down in your bones you can feel she loves you. The thought things could go terribly wrong never cross your mind because you are that confident. If only that confidence could get you through what happens next...
1. Chapter 1

You'd been practicing this conversation over and over in your head for weeks, months if you really wanted to get technical. You keep telling yourself it won't be that hard. You take down criminals for a living, how hard can three little words be to say? But even at the thought of saying them out loud your chest begins to constrict and your breathing becomes uneven. You try taking a few deep breaths to calm your nerves but it feels like you're drowning and you can't keep your head up.

The ringing of the phone on your desk brings you out of your panicked state.

"Sheriff Swan here," you say into the receiver.

"Ah Miss Swan. Is there nothing better for you to be doing other than sitting at your desk and twiddling your thumbs?"

"Well seeing as how there is never any crime in this sleepy little town and I've finished all my paperwork, no, there is nothing better for me to do. And for your information Madame Mayor," you emphasize the last few words for full effect, "I was tweeting, not twiddling."

You hear a sigh of frustration on the other end of the line and you can't help but smile at the fact that you have yet again frustrated her. You can imagine the roll of her eyes and her shaking her head and the smirk she lets grace her lips that she would never let you see if you were arguing face-to-face. You know her though. You know her better than she wants you to know her.

"Well honestly Miss Swan if you have nothing better to do than tweet all day maybe you could find room in your oh so busy schedule to have dinner with Henry and I tonight."

You smile at yourself because this is it. This is your in.

"I'd love to," you tell her.

"Lovely. Dinner's at 7 and please don't be late Miss Swan. Henry is on a regular schedule and I don't want that getting messed up because you couldn't show up on time."

"I'll see you at 7 Regina," and you hang up the phone before she can protest about you being so informal.

You've been staring at the clock for the past two hours, each minute passing feels like an eternity. Suddenly you're 13 again waiting for the final bell at school to ring, signaling you're allowed to leave. The clock finally strikes five and you grab your jacket and almost run out the door.

You quickly walk back to the small apartment you share with Mary-Margaret, one of the first friends you made in this town, and you go upstairs and immediately get in the shower. You practice what you're going to say again, for the hundredth time since you were invited to dinner this afternoon, and you finally feel at ease about it all.

The thought she might reject you never crosses your mind because you catch her staring at you all the time. She stares at your legs and your lips and well, other parts of you too. You blush at the thought of how tonight could possibly end and you finish getting ready with the biggest grin on your face. You get your boots on and glance at the clock. 6:15. You pull your phone out of your pocket, checking the time on that too just in case the clock in the house is wrong. It's not though. It probably never will be either as long as Mary-Margaret lives there. She was one of those people that liked to have everything _just so_.

You stare off into space going over the words one last time. You want everything to be perfect. It has to be. You've practiced too much and come too far to fuck things up now. A key turning in the lock startles you and you quickly get up from the couch and greet your room mate.

"Hi!" you exclaim, your nerves peeking through the cracks even with your room mate.

"Oh! Hi Emma," the timid woman walking through the door says.

"I'm going to Regina's tonight for dinner and who knows what else, so don't wait up for me." You dig your phone out of your pocket and check the time again. 6:18.

"Seriously?" you say to nobody.

"What's wrong Emma?" Mary-Margaret questions.

"Nothing I'm just super anxious about dinner tonight and the time is laaaagging," you drag out for full effect.

"Why so anxious? You've done dinner with them before."

"Because tonight's the night M&M. I'm finally gonna tell Regina how I feel," you say excitedly. You watch her bring her hand up to her heart and tears start to form in her eyes. You start to smile but realize it's too soon for celebration when the woman in front of you starts shaking her head.

"Emma, are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, I've known Regina Mills for as long as I can remember and for as long as I can remember, she's never dated. Sure, she slept with Graham occasionally but that doesn't require emotion from her. She just used him. I just…I don't trust her Emma."

"I know all of that Mary-Margaret and I appreciate your concern but you're wrong. You don't know her like I do. You don't see how she is at home when it's just us. It's almost like we're a family and I've never really had that before." You stop because you hear a sharp intake of breath and look up to see tears falling freely from the other woman's eyes. You step towards her, reaching out to comfort her but she puts up her hands and steps back.

"Well then go for it Emma. Go get your family." And you can't help but notice the snap at the end of the last word.

"Mary-Margaret! Did I say something wrong?"

"No… sorry Emma, it's just been a long day." She starts twisting the ring on her finger and she looks back up to you, "I may not agree with what you're about to do but good luck. Please just be careful. Protect your heart, ok?"

"Of course I'll be careful M&M. I'm a big girl. I got this," you say as you walk out the door.

"Oh this isn't going to end well," your room mate says but you don't hear it. And maybe it's best that you don't.


	2. Chapter 2

You strut up the walkway to the mayoral mansion at 6:57. Grinning ear to ear you raise your hand to ring the bell but the door swings open before you have a chance to ring.

"You're early Miss Swan."

You can't help but smile even wider, proud of your accomplishment at actually surprising the mayor.

"Better than being late right?" You flash a toothy grin in her direction and she moves to the side, motioning for you to come in.

"Henry is just washing up, he should be down shortly," she says walking further into the house. You follow her into the kitchen and your eyes land on the object that is giving off such a heavenly aroma.

"You baked," you say through a wide grin.

"Yes, well, Henry loves it so I figured tonight would be a good night to have it. He gets his favorite dessert and he gets to spend time with you. I'm sure he'll be happy," she says with the slightest bit of jealousy in her tone. You can't help but smile inwardly knowing soon she wouldn't need to be jealous because you were going to be a family.

She moves to the large island in the middle of the kitchen and starts chopping vegetables. You make your way over and place your hand on top of hers, "Here, let me," you softly say and gentle hazel eyes meet your own. You hold her gaze until the silence is broken by Henry bursting through the swinging door.

"Hey Emma!" He runs to you and wraps his arms around your middle.

"Hey kid, you all cleaned up?"

"Yep!" he says as he nods his head vigorously.

You look over at Regina and notice the tears forming in her eyes. You bend down so you're eye to eye with your son. "Why don't you go set the table for us huh? I need to talk to your mom for a minute." Henry glances up at Regina who turned her back to him so he wouldn't see the hurt in her eyes. You hand him the dishes and silverware and usher him out of the kitchen.

You walk over to her, wrap your arms around her from behind and whisper in her ear, "Hey, it's ok." You feel her take a deep breath and you squeeze tighter.

"I'm fine Miss Swan," a shaky voice tells you.

You spin her around so you can look into those hazel eyes once again before you speak. "Stop Regina. You don't have to pretend with me," you gently say. You bring a hand up to her face and cup her cheek, wiping away the stray tear that fell with the pad of your thumb. Before you know what's happening she pushes you away. "I said I'm fine Miss Swan. Shall we?" and she motions to the dining room.

"Uh, y-yeah," you stammer out. 'Where did that go wrong,' you think to yourself. You follow her into the dining room and take your seat across from Henry. An awkward silence hovers over the table like dark clouds before a storm but Henry breaks the silence for the second time that night. "Timmy shoved a dime up his nose in class today. Miss Blanchard had to send him to the nurse because she couldn't get it out."

'Well that explains her weird mood,' you think to yourself. "Why did he shove a dime up there to begin with?" you question.

"Alex dared him to do it. He said only geniuses had noses big enough to put dimes up, so Timmy wanted to prove he was a genius."

Before you can stop it, laughter escapes your lips and fills the room.

"Miss Swan, I hardly think—" but she can't finish her sentence before the magical sound of her laugh also fills the room. Your eyes meet for a split second and she starts laughing even harder seeing the tears in your eyes from your own laughter.

"Henry, you know that was dumb of this Timmy kid right?" you say, trying to show you are still a responsible parent.

"Yeah, because after it got stuck, Alex turned to him and said, 'Good job genius, now you have a dime stuck up your nose.' Miss Blanchard sent Alex to the principal's office after that."

"Henry, you know not to give into pressure like that. Don't you?" Regina asks gravely.

"Duh mom. I'm smarter than that," he responds quickly.

"Good boy," she says and pats his arm.

You sit there mesmerized by the small exchange between the two. 'This is how it should be,' you think. You smile inside telling yourself this is how it will be. The sound of your name brings you back to reality and you look to your son who is staring at you waiting for a response.

"Sorry, what did you say Henry?"

"It wasn't Henry. It was me," she says. "Are you finished with dinner Miss Swan?" she asks again.

You feel heat rise from your chest and flush your cheeks.

"Yes, I am. Sorry," you say as you stand up to help clear the table.

"Henry are you ready for dessert?" she asks him.

"Yes please!"

Once inside the kitchen she turns around and walks the few steps towards you to get the dishes from your hands.

"What were you daydreaming about Miss Swan?" She sounds angry or hurt or a combination of the two but you simply smile and say, "I'll tell you about it later."

"I don't like surprises," she warns.

"And I'm sure Henry doesn't like waiting for his favorite dessert," and you reach around her and grab the apple pie and walk back into the dining room. You can feel her eyes burning holes into your backside but you don't care, you just want to get through dessert so you can have alone time with her. But of course it feels like an eternity until you finally hear her tell Henry it's time for bed.

She's waiting in her study when you come back downstairs from tucking Henry in. She has a glass of cider in her hands and she's staring into the fire she built while you were upstairs. With the shadows of the flames dancing across her face and the way she was sitting in her high-backed chair, she looked like a queen. You clear your throat and she finally sees you leaning against the door frame.

"You ok?" you ask as you enter the room and sit on the couch across from her.

"Like I said earlier Miss Swan, I'm fine. Now if you don't mind, I have a long day ahead of me and I'd like to turn in soon," she says as she stands and starts towards the door.

You quickly reach out and grab her hand. "Wait! Sit with me for a minute, there's something I need to talk to you about." She looks in your eyes then back down at your hand that is still wrapped around hers. She sighs and says, "Very well, would you like a drink?"

"Yes please," you squeak out, your throat suddenly dry. You watch her every move as she walks over to the small table with the crystal decanter full of cider. You quickly get up from the couch and follow behind her. When she turns she lets a small squeal escape her lips, and you watch as the amber liquid comes dangerously close to spilling over the edge.

"Miss Swan! Really?"

"Stop. Put the glass down for a minute," you ask. When she makes no attempt to move you ask again, "Please?" and you give her the puppy dog eyes nobody can resist.

"Fine, if you insist," she says as she sets the glass back down with a clink.

You take both of her hands in yours and she opens her mouth to protest and tries to pull her hands away but you hold tight and interrupt her before she even has a chance to say anything.

"Please," you start, "just listen for a minute." She nods in consent and you take a deep breath and start again. "You're probably going to think I'm absolutely nuts and that's fine, maybe I am, but I'm nuts about you." You see her eyes widen and her mouth open but you push on. "Regina, I knew from the first day I met you when I brought Henry back, that there was something different about you. I told you I made a wish that day to not be alone and ever since then I haven't been. When we started these dinners with Henry I thought it was just because you wanted to keep tabs on me—"

"It was," she interrupts.

"Ok well regardless of that fact, things have gotten easier since then and I find myself missing you two everyday. I don't want to have to miss you Regina." You feel the warmth leak out of your eyes and flow down your cheeks. "I don't want to miss you, I want to be with you. I love you Regina." You can see the wheels turning in her head, processing what you just said. She opens her mouth to speak and suddenly your head is moving of its own accord and you crash your lips into hers. You bring your hands up to either side of her face and cup her cheeks but suddenly for the second time that night, you feel two very strong hands push on your chest and before you have time to react, a hand is flying towards your face resulting in a loud smack. You subconsciously bring your hand up to your own cheek and you feel tears flowing down your cheeks again.

"Get out," kiss-bruised lips spit at you.

"Regina wait, I can exp—" but you don't have time to finish before she's pushing at your chest again.

"You don't get to explain anything Emma. I said get out!" The tears fall harder now. You realize she just called you Emma for the first time tonight and it's not in the way you thought it would be; she's kicking you out instead. This is not how you pictured the night going.

"Please Regina. Please," you're sobbing now. The pain in your chest is almost unbearable.

"I said, Get. Out," she growls at you. She throws your jacket at your face and it takes all of your strength to catch it. The walk to the front door feels like miles but you finally reach it. She's standing there, one hand on the open door, the other on her hip. If it were a different situation you'd think she looked cute. But she looks anything other than cute at this moment. Tears are still running down your cheeks and you look at her one last time.

"I-I-I'm s-sorry," you choke out.

"I'm sure you are Miss Swan but not as sorry as Henry will be when he finds out he's never going to see you again." Your eyes widen in horror and you try arguing with her. "Don't Regina! Please don't take him away from me. I just…I just got him back! Don't do this to me! Please!"

"Yes well maybe you should have thought about that before you made your last move. Goodnight Miss Swan." And she slams the door in your face. You collapse on your knees right there on her porch, wrapping your arms around your chest. You can physically feel your heart breaking, the pain is unbearable. Sobs rip through your body and the tears are unrelenting. You have never felt pain so incredible. You imagine this is what it must feel like to lose your child from death, but then you realize this is much worse because at least death is final. No, you now have to live out your days knowing your son is still out there, living his life, you are just no longer a part of it and now have to imagine how he's doing every day.

"Please!" you scream at a closed door. "Ple-ee-ease don't do this!" You're still sitting there sobbing, hoping against all hope she comes back. The door flies open and you look up into unforgiving hazel orbs. You scramble over on your hands and knees, not caring how you look at this moment. Your hands reach up to her stomach as you sit up on your knees, "Please god Regina don't do this to me. I can't handle this."

"Miss Swan I'm going to say this once. So listen up. You have 30 seconds to remove yourself from my property. And so help me if you're yelling wakes up my son—"

"Our son," you interject.

"No Miss Swan, my son. He hasn't been your son since you gave him up 10 years ago. Yes I let you see him but that was on the premise you didn't get too attached and well frankly Miss Swan I can't trust you around him after that stunt you just pulled. So like I said, you have 30 seconds to remove yourself from my property."

You cover your face with your hands and cry harder, if that's even possible. You attempt to take a deep breath, something that will allow you to stand without falling right back down. You realize any attempt to breathe normally at this point is futile so you slowly get to your knees and even slower still, stand up on your unsure feet. Your knees feel weak, like they might give out at any second but you refuse to let them. 'Make it home,' you tell yourself. 'Fall apart at home.'

It takes you two hours to walk the 10 blocks home. Somebody said hi on your way but you don't know who, nor do you care. Your hair is a mess and your eyes are bloodshot from the amount of crying you've done. You torture yourself, replaying all the events of the night. You see her gentle eyes, her smile, the hurt in her eyes when Henry embraced you. You replay every little thing. You stop the memory tape in your head at the kiss. That's where you went wrong. You pushed yourself on her where you should have given her space. She was about to say something, but what? You mentally berate yourself because now you'll never know.

-  
You're slumped against the back of your front door. After you slammed the door in her face, you couldn't handle the hurt. You leaned against the solid surface and slid down to the floor. You pull your knees up to your chest and wrap your arms around your middle trying to hold yourself together, afraid if you let go, you might crumble.  
You can still hear her sobs. Her desperate pleas to give her another chance. To let her explain. But you can't give in. You can't let your heart win as much as it wants to. She'll never know how nice it felt to have her arms wrapped around you. She'll never know how you're heart melted around the three words she said to you. It had been so long since you heard those words from anybody, even your own son. But you can't let her in. You can't risk the heartache that would surely come along with loving her. She runs. She runs from the unknown. What if things got tough and she decided she was just done? How were you supposed to handle that? What about the curse?


	3. Chapter 3

You finally make it upstairs and into the small apartment, but you run into a small problem.

"Oh Emma, I wasn't-" she stops, seeing the state you're in. "Emma what happened to you?" her tone is soft yet somehow firm at the same time.

"Regina and Henry and dinner and a kiss," you mumble incoherently.

"Who did you kiss Emma?"

"Regina," you say stoically.

"Oh Emma," she says unsure. She walks over to you and wraps her arms around your small frame.

"Emma what happened? Do you want tea?" she asks you. But tea is the furthest thing from your mind. She starts rubbing your back in an attempt to soothe you but it makes the pain worse somehow.

"I-I-I," you attempt to speak but the sobs are making it difficult to get out a coherent sentence.

"I w-want," you try again but still the sobs get in the way.

"I want my son back!" you scream. You feel warm liquid dripping onto your shoulder and you can't tell if the tears belong to you or the woman trying to console you but the tears don't stop. The pain of admitting what you want shoots through you like a bullet.

She is still rubbing your back and she leads you over to a barstool and sits you down. She grabs your face with both of her hands and your eyes meet crystal blue ones, shiny from their own tears.

"Where is Henry?" she asks, concerned.

"He's- he's with- with her!"

"What do you mean you want him back?" She's just looking for answers, a way to try and help you out. You sit there crying, unable to answer any of her questions.

"Ok, I'm going to put on some water for tea and when it's done you're going to sit here and drink it until you can answer me. Do you understand me?" She's talking to you, your brain registers that much but you can't speak, can't move, the insufferable pain coursing through your body has rendered you paralyzed in a sense. So instead of answering you just sit there, staring off into the distance, eyes unfocused.

She moves to the tiny stove and puts the kettle on to boil and somewhere in the midst of making you tea, you hear her mumble something about Regina, death, and words an elementary school teacher should not be uttering.

"She's not," you say, barely above a whisper. You aren't sure if she's heard you or not but after a moments silence she looks at you and half-smiles, "Well we are each entitled to our own opinions right?"

"She's not what you said though," the sobs have stopped for the moment which is the only reason even you are able to understand the words that are coming out of your mouth.

"So what happened Emma? Explain it to me so I don't feel like I want to punch a baby right now," she says. Any other day you'd be laughing, smiling at the very least hearing this woman talk the way she is. But laughter and smiles don't grace your presence tonight. You wonder if they ever will again.

"I don't want to talk about it." You don't want to feel anymore. You just want to be numb and hide under the covers and pretend like it never happened.

"Bullshit! You are going to talk about it whether you want to or not Emma!"

"I can't Mary-Margaret," you say, the exhaustion from the tears painfully evident from the sound of your voice. "Not tonight at least."

The whistling from the stove signals that the water is ready. The woman across from you moves quickly and efficiently, pouring you a cup of tea and setting it down in front of you. She then takes your face between both of her hands. The pads of her thumbs brush away stray tears that are leaking out of your eyes. You aren't even crying anymore, but the pain in your chest and the flood of your emotions causes more tears to fall that you didn't even know you had.

"Listen to me Emma," she says as her eyes search yours for acknowledgement. "Whatever happened tonight, we will get through it together. Now I want you to drink this, the whole cup. It will help you sleep, I promise. And then in the morning we can figure this out together. Ok?"

You can feel the pieces of your heart chipping away like pieces of a broken mirror falling to the floor; each new piece shattering on impact. Your eyes are trained on hers but you don't see her. You are staring right through her, like she's not even standing in front of you trying to make you feel remotely better about yourself. She leans in and kisses your forehead.

"I love you Emma. Get some sleep," and with that she takes her own cup of tea and leaves you with your thoughts in the middle of the tiny kitchen.

The morning light shines through your bedroom window and you pull the covers over your head to block it out once more. You aren't sure when or how but you are aware that you opened your eyes to the sunlight, so at some point you drifted off. The last thing you remember from last night was making the long trek up the stairs to your bedroom and laying down on the bed. You curled into a pillow and again replayed the nights events in your head. Your body cried more but no tears were shed. You didn't know until last night that it was possible to run out of tears.

A timid knock at the door makes you crawl deeper under the covers. Unable to face your kind room mate, you feign sleep hoping she'll leave you alone. She cracks your door open, just the slightest bit, to check on you but quickly closes it when she thinks you're asleep or has figured out you don't want to talk. You silently thank her for not prying and wrap your arms around yourself curling into an even tighter, impossibly smaller ball. You spend most of the day buried in the darkness underneath the covers. Your stomach has been growling for the better part of it but you can't bring yourself to eat. You can't bring yourself to move. You fade in and out of consciousness as the night progresses, images from the previous night haunt your dreams and you soon realize the thought of sleeping is ridiculous, so you get out of bed for the first time in 18 hours.

You make your way for the stairs hoping your room mate has decided to go to her boyfriend's house for the night. The thought quickly dissipates when you see her shuffling around the kitchen, tea kettle in hand. She turns around and is startled at the sight of you; you're still in the same clothes, your hair is a tangled mess of curls ad you're sure your face is a wreck.

"Oh! Emma. Hi. I was just making you some-"

"Tea? Thanks, but no," you interrupt.

"Please Emma? You need something. I know you didn't get out of bed all day," she says.

"Tea isn't going to fix what happened Mary-Margaret!"

She's hurt. You can tell from the glassy look in her eye that wasn't there minutes before. You don't care though. It doesn't begin to compare to the hole in your chest where your heart used to be. You utter an apology you don't mean and turn around, heading back to the cave you have made your room.

"Emma wait!" You hear quick steps on the hardwood and suddenly she's behind you, rubbing her hand up and down your arm gingerly, trying to comfort you.

"We _will_ get through this," she says. You shrug her hand off of you and say barely above a whisper, "Just stop. Please," and you walk away, head hung low.

"Emma-" but before she has a chance to finish you interject, "No Mary-Margaret. It doesn't matter," and you continue to walk away not daring to look back.

"It matters to me," she whispers to an empty room. But again you don't hear it because you're already upstairs standing outside of your room. You take a deep breath and cross the threshold wishing for a dreamless sleep.

You wake in the middle of the night, scared by the sound of your scream ripping through your body. Your cheeks are wet from the tears shed in your sleep. Seconds later a frightened looking Mary-Margaret bursts through your door.

"Emma?! Are you ok?!"

You look into the crystal blue eyes staring back at you and you see nothing but fear and compassion. Staring in her eyes you realize she really does care about you and for some reason the thought makes you break down. Your walls crumble around you, leaving you surrounded by the rubble as the sobs start to tear through you. She quickly rushes over to the bed, climbs up next to you and wraps her arms around you. You curl into her and let the sobs come, quickly realizing resistance is futile.

"Ssh Emma. Ssh, I'm right here," she whispers into your tangled mess of blonde curls.

"I-I," you try to speak but it's hard to verbalized anything. "I j-just wa-a-ant him b-b-back," you finally get out.

You look into blue eyes and gently whisper, "Can I have some tea?"

The woman looking down at you smiles and says, "Of course. I'll go make some real quick." She gives you a tight squeeze before reassuring you she'll be right back.

A few minutes later, she returns with two steaming mugs, carefully handing you yours and taking her spot back on your bed. Again you have found it's possible to run out of tears. You take this opportunity to explain all of the events that lead up to this meltdown and when you're finished explaining, you look at her and see she is just staring off into space, unable to speak.

"Please don't say I told you so. Say anything but that please," you beg her.

"Emma I would never. I just, I can't believe she kicked you out of his life like that." You flinch at the harsh words as soon they're spoken. You still can't believe this is real.

"Maybe I could talk to her for you?" she offers.

Your eyes widen in horror at the thought. Regina would rip her to shreds and you were broken enough for the both of you.

"No Mary-Margaret, you can't. I could only imagine what she would have to say to if you showed up on her doorstep wanting to talk this out. No I need to do this on my own time."

"I was just trying to help," she says meekly.

"I know, but I need to do this for me," you say leaving no room for argument.

The room goes quiet for a few moments before either of you speak again.

"Mary-Margaret?"

"Yeah?" she responds sounding tired.

"Will you stay in here with me tonight?" She puts her arm around you and smiles at you before responding. "Of course I will."

The two of you lay down and for the few hours before daylight breaks through your window again, you have a dreamless sleep.

You awake in the morning to an empty bed, but find a note in place of the woman that had previously occupied the other side. "Emma- I left some tea in the kettle for you. Please drink some. Also; you may want to shower :) love, M&M. P.s. what are you going to do about work?"

You lift your arm and sniff and wrinkle your nose at the foul scent that invaded your senses. You get up and slowly stretch out all of your muscles, not realizing how sore you were from lying in bed for so long.

You make your way to the bathroom, turn the hot water on in the shower and step in. The hot water is a shock to your skin but it feels good to let it beat over your tense muscles. And somewhere in the back of your mind you think you deserve the pain after fucking things up so royally. 


	4. Chapter 4

**A/U: Hi there! So this story is coming to a close, the next chapter will be the last unless I decide to write an epilogue of sorts. I just wanted to say thank you to everybody who has followed/favorited/reviewed this story because it's only the second time I've published anything here and it's really encouraging. So thank you again and as always, I hope you enjoy! **

This is the fourth day in a row you notice Emma isn't at work, nor did she stop by the diner for her usual coffee in the morning. When you enter the small diner you see that deplorable woman sitting at the counter, chatting it up with Ruby. But as soon as Ruby lays eyes on you, she clamps her lips shut and Mary-Margaret turns to see you. Her eyes are throwing daggers in your direction and you no longer question if she knows about the other night or not.

You look down at your feet, suddenly ashamed, losing all of your mayoral composure.

"Madame Mayor. What can I get you?" Ruby asks not too politely.

"A-a coffee. To go please," you say feebly. You move closer to Mary-Margaret, suddenly drawn to the woman, wanting to know how Emma is.

"Miss Blanchard, a word please?" you ask, your mayoral mask back in place.

Without moving from her stool, she turns to you and say, "I'm his teacher Regina, you can't stop me from seeing him too." You suddenly hear the waitress behind the counter cuss at the hot liquid, your coffee to be exact, that has splashed up on her legs from dropping the cup after hearing Mary-Margaret's response.

You're taken aback at the sudden change in the school teacher, but then you realize the blue eyes burning holes through you don't belong to Mary-Margaret, they belong to Snow White. The curse is breaking after all.

"Miss Blanchard! I hardly think this is the time or the place, I simply wanted to talk to you. Civilly," you add as an afterthought. This town has enough gossip you don't need to add more to it. She rolls her eyes and slides off the stool. You lead her to the back corner of the diner, hoping for the slightest bit of privacy. Before you have a chance to open your mouth she's crossing her arms and tapping her foot.

"How-how is she?" you ask trying to hide the worry in your tone but failing.

"How do you think she is Regina?!" she yells back at you. 'So much for privacy' you think to yourself.

"Imagine losing the most important thing in your life. Try comforting someone at 3am when they wake up screaming and sobbing," you flinch at that but she doesn't notice. "Try not eating or not having the strength to get out of bed for a week. Then and only then can you know how she is right now." You're staring at your feet when she finishes talking and your arms are wrapped around your stomach.

"You really outdid yourself this time Madame Mayor. I knew you were cold but I had no idea you were such a heartless bitch," she says to you before walking away, her words dripping with venom.

"I'm sorry," you whisper as she walks away but of course she doesn't hear you. You pick your head up, put your mask back in place and turn around, heading out of the diner.

"Madame Mayor?" the waitress calls out, "You forgot our coffee."

"Keep it," you say as you storm out of the diner heading in the opposite direction of your office.

Your mind replays a fight you and your son had just yesterday:  
"What did you do to her?!" he tells at you through tears falling from deep green eyes. Her eyes.  
"Henry I didn't do anything to her. She-"  
"Liar!" he screams at you. You kneel down in front of your son and put your hands on his shoulders, but he quickly backs away from your touch.  
"Don't touch me! I hate you!" and he turns to run away from you.  
"Henry wait!" you call out, but he is already half way up the stairs on his way to lock himself in his room.  
It's the first time you've heard these words from your son's mouth. You've taken away his tv, his PlayStation and his book but he's never uttered those words until now. You've never taken away his savior, his Emma, his mother until now either. You go into your study and pour yourself a glass of cider and mull the words around in your head. 'I hate you' plays on repeat for the rest of the day and into the night.

You didn't sleep well because of it which is why Miss Blanchard's conversation cut so deep this morning.

Before you realize it, you look up and see that your feet have lead you to the hovel that Emma and Mary-Margaret share.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/U: Well my friends, this is it! I just want to say thank you so much to everybody for sticking with this story until the end, it really does mean a lot. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you 3**

Today was the last day you were allowing yourself to wallow in self-pity. Laying in bed and not going to work were not going to get you your son back. You roll over after opening your eyes to the harsh sunlight, covering your face with your blanket again like you've become so accustomed to doing. You really should get up and shower and eat and attempt to be productive but you can't bring yourself to move. You feel the tears start to come again but you swallow them back. No tears were going to fall today. You close your eyes, hoping to fall back asleep but that would be too easy, instead there's a knock at the door. You wonder if it's Ruby leaving food for you again. You hadn't eaten the last 3 meals she's dropped off but the thought was sweet anyway. There's another knock at the door, this one sounding more urgent. You sigh and trudge down the stairs in your Soffe shorts and wife beater, your outfit of choice for the past week.

"Rubes I'm not-" but you stop dead in your tracks when you realize it's not Ruby on the other side of the door. It's Regina. A gasp escapes your lips and you quickly clear your throat, "Hi..." She's looking down at her feet, toeing the threshold of the door, hands clenched together behind her back. 'She looks so damn cute. No Emma!' you yell at yourself silently for being weak.

"...Hi" she says softly, still not looking at you. A moment of silence comes and goes and that's when she looks up at you. She gasps, eyes widen in shock and tears start to form at the corners of her eyes.

"Oh Emma," and like that, she's on you, arms wrapping around your even smaller frame due to the lack of food intake in the past week. You push her off of you as much as you don't want to.

"What is it Regina?" you ask exasperated.

"I-I wanted to come see you. Check on you. I was wor-"

"Don't! Don't you dare say you were worried about me!" you argue. "You were the one that caused this when you kicked me out and slammed the door in my face while I collapsed on your porch and sobbed. I even begged Regina and you couldn't give two shits! So don't you dare come over here and say you were worried because I don't beli-" but the sudden crashing of lips on yours stops you mid-rant. Your lips break apart slowly, a small trail of saliva still connecting you two.

"What. The. Fuck." you growl.

"Dammit Emma I was worried! You don't know how it felt that night I kicked you out. It broke me just as much as it broke you. Our son hates me."

"Don't you mean your son," you hiss. She steps further into the apartment and closer still to you.

"No I mean our son. I can't deny how happy you make him. I mean truly happy. And I can't deny how you make me feel either. Not anymore. Emma," she pauses and takes a breath, "I was scared that night. You have to understand I haven't felt these feelings in a very long time. Since before Henry even came into the picture. The thought of opening up my heart to you terrifies me but I'm willing to because of how happy you make me and our son. I love you Emma Swan."

You stand there, unsure of what to say. You want to be mad for her kicking you out but you want to believe her too. You knew you weren't crazy for thinking what you did. So instead you stick with what you know.

"Do you mean it?" you ask, waiting to see if she's lying or not. She comes closer, invading your personal space, and places both of her hands around your cheeks and holds you head still. Her hazel eyes gaze into yours and it feels like she's looking into the depths of your soul. "Yes I mean it. Truly, madly, deeply. I love you Emma Swan." And she pulls you into the deepest, most gentle kiss that has ever graced your lips before. Tears roll down your cheeks and you grab her by her waist, pulling her in closer, kissing her deeper.

There's a loud rumble in the distance but you don't hear it. You do however feel the earthquake that follows. You instinctively hold on tightly to the woman in your arms; when the shaking stops you look at her making sure she's ok.

"I didn't know Storybrooke had earthquakes," you tease.

"We don't dear," but her voice is different. It's an octave lower and huskier than you could have imagined it getting.

"Well, what was that then?" you question.

"Emma! Emma!" you hear in the distance. You can tell by the voice it's your room mate, but when she reaches the door she stops, eyes on Regina.

"Mary-Margaret, I can explain," you start.

"Well well your Majesty," she says emphasizing the last two words, eyes unwavering from Regina still.

"Oh dear..." Regina breathes out as she takes a defensive stance.

The woman you know as Mary-Margaret lunges for her but Regina quickly grabs your hand and it suddenly feels like you're caught in a riptide. Your head and your feet are tumbling over each other and somewhere in the distance you hear a woman scream, "Noooo!" as she lunges through purple and black smoke trying to grab something that is no longer in front of her. The scream is followed by heartbreaking sobs, but before you can ask what's happening, everything fades to black and the sobbing is drowned out by the pounding in your own head.

When you feel your feet finally touch solid ground you immediately collapse to your knees, unsure of what just happened to you. Your breathing is labored and your vision is blurry but you definitely aren't in your old loft, the floor here is too nice, too polished. And suddenly she's there, rubbing small circles on your lower back, trying to calm you down. The words are caught in your mouth, all the questions you want answers to are there, but they won't come.

"Ssshhh, it's ok. You're ok. I promise."

The voice speaking to you is hushed, more breathy than usual but still hers. And that reason alone slows your heart rate down a steady thump instead of the erratic drum beat from a few minutes before. But you're tired, so tired from all the fighting and heartache that you don't even question what the hell just happened to you. There's only one question burning at the forefront of your mind.

"Do you still mean it? Do you still love me," you question, fighting back the tears.

"Yes, I do. I love you very much Emma."

You release a breath you never realized you were holding; this right here, this moment is what matters most. You know deep down that everything will work out, if not immediately, then over time at least. You look up into hazel eyes, tears brimming at the edges, and you quirk up the corner of your mouth and lean forward brushing your lips gently against hers.

"I love you too Regina." 


End file.
